Post-pandemic workforce
APOST-pandemic Filipino workforce is emerging from the past two years. Government policies should catch up in addressing their concerns. We are seeing the rise of health and well-being as a priority in the Filipino workplace because of the pandemic. It has reached a level where employees will resign or change jobs if employers do not meet employees’ expectations of a workplace, which is taking care of employees’ physical and mental health, as well as work-life balance.
A recent 2022 World Trend Index (WTI) by the technology company Microsoft reported that nearly half or 49% of Filipino employees hired during the pandemic are already considering changing jobs. The survey also reported that 67% of Filipino workers are likely to prioritize their health and well-being over work more than before the pandemic, higher than the global trend of 53%. The WTI also found that 20% of Filipino employees say they actually left their jobs in the past year.
The government must figure out how to maintain productivity and grow the economy while accommodating the changes in the physical, mental, and emotional needs of the workforce. Sixty of Filipino workers in the survey say they are considering a switch to remote or hybrid work in the next year. Yet the same study found that 69% of business leaders in the country say their company is planning to require employees to work in-person full time within the next year, and only 38% of them have created arrangements with their employees for alternative work arrangements.
Clearly, the government and its policies should not be out of touch with the current mindset of the post-pandemic Filipino workforce and proactively anticipate broad changes in their needs and behaviors. We should act fast and think progressively to close this disconnect between the interests of industry and workers.
For example, businesses should work with the government for the full implementation of the Work From Home Law. We also have the Tulong Trabaho Law for skills training and upskilling our workers for whatever job they want. We must understand that employees nowadays do not work for wages alone.
Recently, a BPO firm of 100,000 workers in the country decided to maintain work from home or hybrid work arrangements for its employees rather than avail of tax incentives from the government. It reportedly made this decision after the Fiscal Incentives Review Board gave BPOs the ultimatum for their employees to physically return to working in their offices starting April 1 or lose tax incentives under the Corporate Recovery and Tax Incentives for Enterprises (CREATE) Law. This is a classic case of the government falling behind innovations. The innovation that we need now should be focused to benefit the post-pandemic workforce. This BPO should be emulated rather than penalized for listening to its employees.